


Only You

by TempusNoKitsune



Category: X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Betrayal, Charles Getting Uncomfortable, Charles Xavier has a Ph.D in Adorable, Charles in a Wheelchair, Charles is a Professor, Cherik - Freeform, Erik Has Feelings, Erik has Issues, Erik is Crushing Harder than a 12-year Old Girl, Erik is not a Happy Bunny, Honestly Charles What Are You Thinking, M/M, Poor Charles, Protective Erik, So Married, The idiot metal bender and his on again off again telepath boyfriend, Their Love Is So, Wheelchairs, charles you idiot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-08-10 19:04:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7857451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TempusNoKitsune/pseuds/TempusNoKitsune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles, despite all odds, has kept a level head and a well run school. Over the past few years he had picked up quite a few new children, one of which took a particular liking to him. As though related by blood, the girl appears in his space, reluctant to touch, but unwilling to go away. And then, then there's the issue of a certain German, quite literal, backstabbing idiot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Emily

He stretched out, arms going high above his head, fingertips brushing against the very top of a plain wooden headboard. Blue eyes wearily blinked open, stark in contrast to the pale white sheets.

“Wake up Charles.” He murmured to himself, as though the words could actually motivate him to roll out of the all too comfortable bed.

There was a gentle knock at the door and his eyes cut sideways at the clock sitting at his bedside. 4 in the morning, who else would be up?

“P-professor, are you awake?” Timid but sweet, the voice barely penetrated the oak.

More slowly than usual, seemingly waterlogged by the sweet waves of sleep, he reached out with his mind.

“You can come in Emily.” There was a smile in his voice, how could one not smile in the presence of children? In the presence of growing minds.

Still, the door opened hesitantly, long hair tumbling through the crack before shimmering grey eyes peeked around the frame, elongated pupils dilating with the change of light.

Charles pressed the heels of his palms down into the mattress, hauling the dead weight of his lower half upwards until he was in a sitting position. His compulsion to wince at the lack of feeling, or spike of lower back pain, had nearly dissolved over time, though that only accounted for physical response.

“I won’t bite, I promise.”

That drew the ghost of a smile, one that was dampened before it was allowed to be fulfilled.

Emily scurried in, hesitating at the side of the bed before he beckoned to her, allowing her muscular legs to spring her up and right to his side at the middle of the mattress. She burrowed into his side, and he kept mental barriers up, allowing her to tell him rather than picking out the information for himself. Lithe fingers combed through brown hair, a colour that matched his own.

“I had a nightmare.” She pushed her face deeper into his chest, fingers making a vice like grip on the shirt he had worn to sleep.

“About what?” It wasn’t a push, though his heart strings were tugged at the waves of surprised that washed over her at the simple question.

“The humans. The humans they- and M-magneto...I know I’m older but-”

Charles gently squeezed her shoulder.

“That doesn’t mean that you don’t get nightmares, and certainly doesn’t mean that you don’t get scared. In fact, I have nightmares as well.”

Really? But professor you’re a psychic…” He didn’t correct her.  _ Telepath really _ , he thought gently, pressing the hint softly into her subconscious. “You feel other people’s nightmares as well. That can’t be equated.”

He shook his head. “That may be true, but don’t discount yourself.”

He pulled her closer, pushing gently, soothing words into her mind as they dozed.

They had become oddly close over the short period of time that Emily had come to the school. Each child was different, unique, interesting, powerful. He saw great things in each of them, things that everyone ought to see but are perhaps too dense, or self proclaimed centers of the universe. Children had come and gone, family had come and gone, but Charles was never completely alone. Though one could argue that the whispers in his mind counted for naught in ways of company.

Emily was orphaned due to her appearance, further oddities were dismissed with the child as she was exiled to become a street child. When he had found her through cerebro, he had deemed her a priority due to her declining physical status. There was very little brain activity, something that he so cleverly referred to as “empty mind”.

Malnourished and mentally depraved, Emily was far too tired to be wary of them, nearly falling into Hank’s arms as they retrieved her. Fiber glass and plastic braces were fit to her bowed legs, and a thin plexiglass line ran up her spine as a physical precaution. Even now, at the edge of REM, her mind was unusually quiet. Though, now, Charles was positive she was not the kind of child to suffer “empty mind”, but perhaps tho have naturally formed psychic barriers. He was fascinated by her. A quick thought tolled like a small bell in his mind.

_ Hm. _

 

…

 

Children were loud.  _ Good observation, Charles.  _ He scoffed at himself.

Most classes had been dismissed for a lunch break period, and the noise levels had jumped considerably despite most groups having migrated outside. His fingers pushed at the worn edges of the curtains, peering out from the open window of his study to the quickly filling field. The briefest thought flashed through his mind as his eyes took in the farthest reaches of the flat grass.  _ Not full enough, not yet. _

Charles let out a breathy laugh, was he ambitious? Yes. Determined? Absolutely. How far would he go to fill up his school? To the end of the Earth and back really, if only to provide every mutant with a safe and loving home. 

There was an intense knocking at the door, as though the person waiting outside could not wait a second longer to be let in.

“PROFESSOR! PROFESSOR!”

If it were anyone else, Charles would have rolled over to the door in a concerned rush, but as it were…

“PRUH-UH-FEH-UH-SIIIIRRRRR!”

And that was her inside voice.

“It’s not locked. You may come in Danny.”

An energetic artificial blonde bursted into the room, coming to bounce on her heels so close to the front of his chair that if he were to roll forward even slightly he would crush her toes. Caramel coloured eyes sparkled in a way that came off as constantly mischievous. 

He raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

“Oh!” He just barely held in a laugh as she gave off the air of genuine surprise that he was asking for the purpose of her intrusion. “Well, well well welll-” 

A million miles an hour.

“I just thought you should know that-that there’s someone in the woods, and the boys are maaaaaking fun of Emily.”

Again? He’d have to have a serious talk with them, not just a brief scolding, but a sit down. They were better tha- “What do you mean, someone in the woods?”

“Hm?”

“Danny,” He lifted a gentle hand to her shoulder, watching as a sweet smile spread over her excited face. “What do you mean, someone in the woods?”

She shook her head gently. “I felt them. It’s a mutant I think, doesn’t smell like a human.”

He gave a thoughtful nod. “Would you tell Hank to call the children inside? It’s nearly time for the next class. We wouldn’t want to get behind on the schedule, would we?”

Danny shook her head, face suddenly sobering. 

“Professor, are we safe?”

Charles squeezed her shoulder. “As long as I’m here, I promise you that you will always be safe.”

She nodded fervently, leaning forward to press a quick kiss to his cheek before dashing back out of the room.

Blue eyes cut back over to the window, the gentle breeze traveling inside now much much colder than before.

Someone in the woods…

He didn’t even have to reach out as a familiar mind brushed against his own.

_ Good Lord _ ….


	2. On My Knees

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're such a married couple, I swear.  
> They are cannon, just for anyone whose a doubter. Can you not see that? I mean...that's not just friendly love okay.  
> Don't let your dreams be dreams.

“Erik.”

“Charles”

“Your helmet is off.”

“It is.”

Erik’s smooth gait gave little implication of his presence, but his whirling mind was more than enough to give him away. Familiar hands came to rest on his shoulders, but he kept his eyes fixed on the calm pool of water in front of him.

“What do you want?”

He could feel, more than hear, Erik kneeling down behind his wheelchair. His chin comfortably, and rather uncharacteristically for what Charles would deem a public place, where his right hand had been. His warm breath brushed by Charlses cheek, and he couldn’t help the small blush that began to rise to his cheeks.

“Don’t be so cold.”

“Tell me that when you no longer act as a wanted man.”

“And yet you do nothing.” Smug bastard.

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“Charles-”

“No.” Mind reading, though often increasingly helpful, was unnecessary for Charles to predict the next words to come out of Erik’s mouth.

_ Join me. _

A straight lipped mouth pressed coolly into his shoulder, the heat from Erik’s breath warm even through the fabric of his sweater.

_ Charles. Ultimately we want the same thing. What is the point then, in fighting one another? _

_ That’s the problem Erik. How we go about what we want could be compromised, but what we want is not as similar as you seem to believe it is. _

_ I- _

_ Miss you. _

They thought the sentiment in tandem, their unintentional thought broadcasting in thick waves of emotion to one another. And then Erik was no longer behind him.

“It doesn’t have to be.”

Warm lips descended on his own, a bit rough and chapped. Charles let out a soft sigh through his nose and lifted up his hands to gently run his fingers against Erik’s cheek.

_ If you intend to continue kissing me, might I suggest that you make your way to your knees unless you are a fan of the discomfort that this angle is giving you. _

Erik pulled away then, and for a moment their eyes locked in two different silent pleads. Edges of desperation, sadness, love.

Erik knelt down.

“Only for you will I ever get on my knees.”

 

…

 

“Professor?” Hank waved a hand in front of his face, the glaring blue enough to break his trance.

“Ah, yes. I apologise for my rudeness, I seem to be a bit spaced out today.”

“Would you like me to take a look at you?”

Some heavy, and should he say, rather unnecessary, technical terms phased through Hank’s mind. Charles tried his best not to physically flinch.

“No, no. That won’t be necessary, thank you.” He replied with a polite but slightly strained smile.

Now, Hank was absolutely brilliant. A bit clumsy, and sometimes overzealous, but well meaning. This, however, did not mean that he was prepared to become one of the boy’s subjects again quite yet.

He held out his hands, testing the weight of a small filled ball placed in his hands.

“- and it really should be an improvement for training I think.”

Berating himself, Charles quickly responded with a low hum, skimming delicately over Hank’s mind to get a read on the information that he had blocked out due to his own imposing thoughts. 

Even without his physical presence, Erik was a heavy weight in his mind. Ridiculous really, he was acting like a lovestruck puppy. An unsavory mental image of himself with perky brown ears and a happily swinging tail, rolling excitedly along at Erik’s heels, cut into his thoughts.  _ Good God...Why him?  _

The mental Erik spared a glance back at him, the gentle adoration that only showed for the briefest of moments was showered down on him in loving waves. The real Erik would never show such a thing to him, no such emotion or care for an extended time. It wasn’t his way, couldn’t be. To Erik it was weak, something to be used against you. Though, one could suppose that such a conclusion could only be fair and natural for someone who had been imprisoned in a notorious extermination camp during World War two.

“-just hope it works!”

Charles blinked.  _ God damnit. _

“I’m sure it will Hank, I’ve hardly a doubt about it.”

“Thank you Professor.”

He gave a short nod, hoping that his guilt wasn’t showing on his face. “If you’ll excuse me? I’ve got to take a break from our fun for some school related business.”

Hank nodded, the shy smile that seemed to be his trademark directed at Charles. 

He was an awful person, wasn’t he?


	3. Illusion or Reality

Erik....Erik…

Shift, twist, discomfort.

E-Erik!

Yelling, screaming, reaching out with hands that wouldn’t do anything even if they reached their target.

Please…

Blue, grey, green. Tears slipping down faces wrought with decisions that could never be made.

Charles woke with a start, drenched in sweat. His legs were twisted in awkward angles from the struggle his upper body had put up against the sheets. He let out a couple of shaky breaths before his eyes settled on what had woken him, in and outside of his dream.

“Erik?”

The man looked a bit shaken, and the slight chill in the room uncovered the mystery as to how he had slipped in. Perhaps he should really enforce some better security precautions.

“You were calling for me-”

“You thought I was in danger.” The other’s mouth closed, eyes running over his unnaturally twisted body. “And you came.”

“I did.”

The metalbender looked torn. As though he wanted desperately to reach out and fix Charles up, to cradle him against that familiar chest until he stopped shaking. Until everything that has gone wrong was fixed, but that couldn’t happen now. It was either, fix the future and accept the past, or live in the past and pull it into the future. Charles was sure of which one he favoured, but Erik was a traditionalist.

“Thank you, I’m quite fine as you can see.”

And there was a flash of something in those pale eyes. Speaking out as clearly as though it had been explicitly stated.

_ You are not fine, look at you. Look at what I did. _

Charles lifted up his hand, pleasantly surprised when the other did not flinch away, to brush his fingertips against Erik’s cheek.

“I am really, it was just a bad dream, my friend.”

His hand twitched back at a sudden, powerful, sharp pain at the back of his head. Hissing in a breath in pain, he curled in towards his stomach, as though making himself smaller could somehow take away some of the pain.

Erik jolted, automatically reacting to his pain as though their minds were intertwined as they had once been. Charles tightened his muscles, choking on every breath he pulled in.

“Charles!?”

Strong hands landed on his shoulders, squeezing gently as to-

“Charles?”, and that voice was much lighter. Couldn’t be the voice that was saying his name just seconds ago. No, it’s pitch was rising until-

“Professor?” A sharp pain.

“Emily?” The dulling of all of his senses. The girl blinked up at him, elongated pupils dilating in the sparse light.

“Are you okay?” Two tones. Pitches doubled. Charles hands came up to press at his temples. An illusion? Erik must...must have-

Pain, pain, pain pain pain painpainpainpainpainpainPAINPAINPAINPAIN-

“Professor?” Gentle hands cupping either side of his face, a warm body curled into his own. 

“I-” Soothing. Cool water, gentle breeze. Calming, sweet, no pain, just sleep. Darkness. “Yes.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter through Erik's eyes.  
> What's happening?

Erik was shaking. Erik didn’t shake.

“Charles?”

Blue eyes, unseeing, were slowly covered. His hands flinging out to grasp the other's shoulders, tightening as Charles's body went slack.

“Em….ah….l…..y?”

He could just barely make out the mumbled name, though garbled as it was by the slowly slipping telepath. The word sounding suspiciously like Emma. But she wouldn’t interfere. She wouldn’t- no, couldn’t hold enough power over Charles to knock him out unless he was ill.

He pulled in a deep breath, willing his body to stop its useless shaking as he gently brushed away thick brown waves. Pressing his lips to Charles’s forehead, as his mother did to him as a child to check his temperature, he found himself pulling back almost immediately. In contrast to the, at least, mild warmth he was expecting, he found his lips touching nearly icy cold skin, fingers coming up in reflex to press solidly against the man’s neck.

For a moment everything was still- his body chose, in retaliation to his anticipation to stop its shaking -, and he found himself unable to pull in air as he waited….and waited….and-

_ Bahdump…..bahdump….. _

He breathed in time with the weak heartbeat, gently sliding up to pull Charles’s head close. His head was pressure filled, as though he were dizzy as he gently carded his fingers through soft brown locks. It was as though the man’s body had suddenly decided enough was enough.

“Charles….”

“I...mm...ye…s.”

Erik very suddenly felt like a trespasser, watching as his fingertips very gently brushed the curvature of unusually pale cheeks. 

He didn’t want to leave. Never, not once. The want and necessity of a thing were worlds apart, much as he and Charles were. In rebellion against his better judgement he pulled the man closer, cradling the familiar body in his arms, ear pressed close to the others mouth as to be confirmation that Charles was still breathing.

Ocean eyes closed tightly, lips gently brushing against a newly prominent collar bone. He wasn’t eating enough. Of course he wasn’t, neither was Erik. But no, they were not the same, if they had been then this wouldn’t have happened.

Lithe fingers pressed soothing circles into the other's back, slowly trailing downwards. Erik’s stomach clenched bitterly at the scaring knotted at the base of the telepath's spine. That was on him, his head, his shoulders. Head-

A flash of Charles’s memory, the pain of dying a death that was not yours. 

It had to be done, all of it. 

He had reasoned that at the start. Pushed himself away from brilliant blue eyes by pulling out the fierce determination that had motivated him all these years. But now...now as he cradled a cold and broken Charles to his chest, listening intently for breath he feared wouldn’t come, was it something that he could quantify?

Charles’s skin was beginning to leach some of his warmth, and he found the covers at Charles’s unmoving hips very tempting….No. Torture, it was torture to pry himself away. To gently maneuver the smaller man into a more comfortable position, and pull expensive, heavy cloth up to his chin. 

It shouldn’t hurt, but his chest was tight, near convulsing. Anyone else may have feared for some illness, but Erik was well aware of the illness that had befallen him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where Charles is really such a snuggle bunny

Charles felt in a funk the next few days. His head was slightly fuzzy, more so than than the murky feeling that he usually got from rather loud surface thoughts. The children were beginning to take notice, many of the younger students deigning to give him a hug the very moment he rolled through the door, some even bringing him crudely made treats that he couldn’t help but accept with a smile. Though he found himself slightly disconcerted by the less than pleased reaction of the now ever present Emily.

“Professor?”

“Yes?” His head turned to the side, startling him as he connected with Emily’s chest.

“Oh! I’m terribly sorry-”

“You were drifting off. I just wanted to make sure that you were alright.” And that sounded unsettlingly familiar, almost like-

Brilliant blue eyes blinked a few times, startled by the aggressiveness of his formerly tentative young student. In the short span of a few days, gone was the girl that could hardly speak a single word, replaced by an aggressive and somewhat possessive individual.

“I’m quite alright, thank you Emily.”

Despite focusing in on her mind he found it as quiet as ever.

She nodded, eyes narrowing in on a few of the students passing by.

“What about you?”

“Huhh?”

Her eyes cut back over, sharply dilated pupils stretched up in a catseye leaving just a narrow sliver of white on either side.

“Are you alright? You seem to be troubled by something.”

Emily shook her head, ringlets bouncing childishly.

“I’m not. But you are.”

“Emily, love, I’ve just-”

“No. I feel it.” Her fingernails dug protectively into his shoulder, heated gaze warding other children away as they slowly made their way out to the edge of the property as they usually did first thing in the morning. 

Something gently brushed his mind as his eyes grazed over the line of trees, but the gentle feel was quickly replaced by a searing pain, Emily’s eyes snapping to his face in concern as he let out a soft whine. 

“I’m-”

_ “Charles?!” _

“Eri-” And darkness.

...

He woke up shaking, shoulders heaving with each quick breath. His eyes were stinging with tears, heart caught in his throat.

“What- What?”

“Stop that.”

He turned his head so quickly he may have very well given himself whiplash.

There, right by the side of his bed stood a stony Emily. Grey eyes fixated motionlessly on him.

“What?”

“Stop that!”

“Emil-”

“STOP. THAT.”

She lunged forward, covering his body with her own and turning her head to snarl viciously behind them. He reached, and reached, and reached. Worried at first that perhaps he had been drugged, he made sure to triple and double check before coming to the conclusion that there was, in fact, only the two of them present in the room.

“No! No! NO.”

“Emily,” His hands framed either side of her face, turning it back towards his own and gently applying pressure to her temples. “Be calm.”

It pained him to utilize his powers on her, but as she slowly began to unwind from her tense and predatory stance he knew it was necessary.

“No, no.” She cried out as she slowly melted into his chest. The silvery gray of her eyes shimmering and giving way to crocodile tears. “I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Shhhhhhhh.” He applied a bit more gentle pressure, cradling her increasingly lifeless form to his chest. “Shhhh.”

The poor girl was shaken. She must have been having nightmares again. Usually such an occurrence would lead to her appearance at his door in the early hours of the morning, but she hadn’t come to him once. And now, perhaps, his thoughts turned to the possibility of her nightmares centered around her interactions with himself. Maybe that was cause for the protectiveness as well. If the bond she seemed to have established with him was a veritable one, and she was having dreams which ended badly for him, then it would make sense for her to be watchful.

Sweet girl. Lonely, well meaning, and misunderstood. He had known quite a few people like that in his time. 

As her breathing evened out, her head cradled heavily against his chest, he felt his own eyelids begin to droop. Surely a few more minutes wouldn’t hurt…

And if he saw a barely detectable flash of movement in the corner of his room before his eyes became fully shaded, well...it must have simply been a draft.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnd the plot thickens


	6. Chapter 6

Charles knows that he is dreaming. He knows that he is dreaming because Erik’s arm are wrapped securely around him. He knows that he is dreaming because he feels safe in a way that he has not felt since before Cuba. He knows he is dreaming because-

“ _ Charles please. I’m- _ ”

And it’s a projection. It’s- because that is no doubt Erik’s mind voice. Similar to his physical though more earthereal. Something that is so nostalgic that it physically hurts.

“ _ Are you-” _

It’s like there’s bad reception, a static overlay confusing the words, a separation between himself in the words. He hasn’t encountered anything like it for a long while. In a way it is frustrating. In a way it is frightening. In a way- in a way it is not at all surprising, but he cannot fathom why.

“Erik?”

Something hurts when he tries to call out, almost as though he is being physically prevented from contacting Erik. Like a pinch on the vulnerable scarring of his back, like hands around his throat. The shadows in the corder grow closer, and he doesn’t know how he knows that because his eyes are most certainly closed.

“ _ Cha-ls I- y- pl-se -e okay, I’m -ing -o he-p. I- it -urt- _ ”

He’s going to be sick. He is most definitely going to be sick. It’s more than just the after wave of nausea from Cerebro, no, this is full on sick.

He wants and doesn’t want to open his eyes, at the same time. It’s more confusing than he can process while his mind was preoccupied with the heavy shadow of Erik’s non-present presence. 

“Professor! Professor! Stop!”

No, no, be quiet. BE QUIET!

“Professor stop! It hurts!”

Hurts. Hurts.

“Erik!”

“Professor!”

“ _ Cha- _ ”

Two screams echoed on another. Charles’s...and Emily’s.

Footsteps thundered up the stairs. The entire school went quiet, everything stopped. There was only the screaming and hurried shouts of the older students as they attempted to help. 

 

…

 

Erik wakes up clutching his head, scrambling almost violently for the helmet. The echoed screaming bouncing around quieted to a low humming headache.

He was no stranger to nightmares, and now, no stranger to nightmares involving Charles. But something about this particular nightmare sent him in a tailspin.

“Do you have to be so loud while trying to contact your boyfriend?”

“Emma, get out.”

“I’d be surprised if you didn’t call every telepath within a 1,000 mile radius with the way you were screaming.”

He turned cold eyes on her. “What are you talking about?”

Crystalline blue eyes rolled at him as the telepath neatly crossed her arms, leaning heavily against the doorframe.

“Like you don’t know.”

Eyes narrowing, gaze hardening.

Emma lifted herself up then, hovering in the center of the wide open doorway, the hinges melted to useless dripping smelt. 

“You really  _ don’t  _ know.”

“ _ Emma. _ ”

The blonde sighed in tires exasperation before sauntering over to sit on the edge of his bed.

“You were screaming his name. Yelling out to him.”

“That’s not what brought you here.” He stated blandly. That particular circumstance had happened too many times now for his shame to take over.

“No.” She shook her head, leaning back on hands placed behind her in order to tilt her head back at him. Her face was as unreadable to him as his mind was to her. “I came here because there was more. A sharp static, like nothing I’ve heard before. And then the screaming started.”

That was real then.

“Do you have any explanations?”

Emma pushed herself back up, leaning forward slightly before straightening. “Like I said, I’ve never heard the static before, but...those were screams of pain if I’ve ever heard them.” And oh she had.

“Alert Mystique and Azazel.” He pushed aside the blankets, useless to control the chills running up his spine. “We’re going to Westchester.” 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small part 1 chapter  
> Erik vs....well you'll have to just see...

It’s funny how long it takes to get to Westchester. For a good amount of time it had served as home to two of the three of them. It was, whether they wanted or not, a place of safety and comfort- now from their past, making it vaguely uncomfortable.

That, however, was not the reason for their discomfort now. Concern washed over Erik in a heavy wave as he felt the tell tale signs of a powerfully projecting telepath. That, of course, was Charles - hence the only source of his concern - really he hadn’t many feelings for others, not with what was being projected at the moment.

He didn’t waste his time at the door of Westchester Manor, as it would be useless and terribly time consuming in such an important situation. Instead, Erik took in a deep breath, channeling focus through the storm of emotions pounding into him from the inside out, and lifted himself into the air.

It took a surprisingly short amount of time to raise the window of Charles’s room, something he would be taking up with the other man as soon as he was in a position in which it was something like that was not the least alarming thing that was in occurrence at the moment. 

Everything falls to a dead stop when he climbs into Charles's room. He’s curled up as much as possible, hands clenched tightly around his head as though he would be able to keep himself together just from the pressure alone. It was then that Erik noticed the dark figure. A black mass looming over the man as though looking into him rather than at him. There was a purple glow to the black hole of an individual, and Erik’s rage bubbled over.

“Get away from him.” He barely had the time to growl the word out before he was lunging forward, powers reaching towards anything metal he could feel.

There was an unusually large amount of metal in Charles’s room, which made his chest tighten as he pulled it towards the dark figure, which all of the sudden changed into a young girl. Quite obviously a mutant due to her altered appearance the girl moved from her place next to the professor to stand on the bed by his feet. Her eyes seemed to have been all but swallowed by her pupils, giving her eyes a slightly startling all black shine.

Erik stood his ground as he came to a stop only a few inches away, even for him there was a gentle reluctance when it came to fighting children. 

“I said, get away from him.”

“I will not. He is mine.”

The girl's voice was strangely gravely, as though she shouldn’t be able to talk, or had been in some way possessed.

Erik nearly growled, leaning back slightly to make himself larger and more intimidating. The dark shadow was now visible around the girl in something like a shell, pulsing as though a living being or cocoon. As the pulsing began to pick up in pace, Charles began to scream, and Erik was nearly knocked off his feet by the startlingly intense wave of pain.

“Charles!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't updated in a while, and that this chapter is so short. I've been doing NaNoWriMo, and may be very busy the rest of the month, but I'll try to get some stuff out!  
> -Castor


	8. Chapter 8

 

When he wakes up he hasn’t the faintest idea where he is, or what has just happened. He’s incredibly discombobulated, and just the slightest bit groggy as he rubs the sleep from his eyes, groaning at the muscle pain tiredness that runs through him.

“Charles?”

The voice is a soft and tired, but familiar sound, and he snuggles more closely into the body that said voice belongs to.

“Mmmm.”

The body is warm, and he is so cold. His head burns and throbs painfully, and there's a nerve pain climbing up and right on back down his spine. He groans at that and buries his face into the broad chest in front of him, grinding down his teeth as though the action might take away some of the discomfort and pain.

“Charles, how are you feeling?”

“Mmmm.” He groans, hand grasping weakly at one lean muscled arm.

“Please answer me, Charles.”

“Mm’fine E’rk. J’st h’rts.”

“I would assume so.”

Erik’s large warm hand splayed out over his back, making a comfortable warm spot wherever it touched as he began to rub in gentle, calming, circles.

“What?”

“You were...I’m not entirely sure how to explain it. To best explain I assume that I could call it an entity that was holding onto you and ended up hitting you fairly hard at my attempts to separate you.”

He slowly blinked his eyes open at that, brilliant blue slowly connecting with cool grey.

“An entity?”

“An entity.”

“You’re pulling my leg, Erik.”

The flat serious face that the other man did so well took slowly over the concerned face.

“You’re serious.”

“I’m always serious Charles.”

“Don’t make me laugh, these are not laughing matters.” The other man made a face and scoffed at that, beginning to speak, however Charles cut him off, holding up a hand as he pressed his forehead into Erik’s collar. Thinking as hard as he could, and trying to remember just as much as he could.

“Erik?”

“Hmm?” 

The corner of Charles’s mouth twitched up slightly as he felt the vibrations. However, his smile dropped as he thought of the girl that had been with him just before.

“Did you see a young girl? Maybe with or around me?”

“There was a child, she was the one attaching to you with the entity.”

He pulled back quickly, looking up at the other man.

“You didn’t hurt her.”

“I didn’t. She’s alright, in the medical bay. The entity is gone, that I’d like to think that I did hurt.”

He let out a short breath of relief at hearing that Emily was alright, and Pushed up slightly to press his lips tightly to Erik’s. Charles shifted his middle closer, arching towards the other man and pulling his legs with him just enough to be pressed as close to Erik as he possibly could. Pulling back with a dragging nip at the others bottom lip.

“Thank you.” He whispered, breath puffing across Erik’s mouth.

“Don’t you let that happen ever again.”

“I wouldn’t have to worry about it if I had you around…”

“You know I can’t stay.”

He let out a long breath, a sour taste taking over his mouth.

“I know.”

Silence fell over them as it often did during these conversations. Well, silence or unbearable anger and hurt filtered through yelling matches with one another.

“Stay with me for now? At least until I fall asleep.”

The other mutant nodded slowly, arms wrapping firmly around him as he closed his eyes and tried to let sleep overtake him once again, if anything, in an attempt to gain back some of the strength that he had lost in the process of getting clung to by whatever that entity was. But just as he began to drift off his eyes opened once again, seemingly of their own accord.

“I will not. He is mine.” A voice growled from beside him, and he could almost feel his life being pulled from his body as he looked up into what should have been Emily’s eyes. And...that was just a dream.


	9. Chapter 9

Charles started rather quickly for someone who had just been put in a dreamlike trance. But he had to, had to jump into action- rather figuratively considering his situation regarding his legs-. He grasped Emily’s wrist, instinctively reaching out to her mind only to find a dense, purple-black fog, much like what seemed to be surrounding her.

“Emily!”

The girl did not turn, eyes focused, stance resolute, and suddenly there was screaming. A low and painful noise, grating on his mind and twisting his heart in his chest. His eyes refocused on the scene in front of them, then seeing Erik, writhing in pain midair.

He reached out again, this time pressing a bit more forcefully. Not hard enough to hurt or alter, but hard enough to pressure.

“Emily, you must stop this! Fight this!”

The entity surrounding the girl pulsated at his words, in some ways making a move as though shifting its attention from Erik over to Charles, moving rather...well...sheepishly.

“What do you want?”

He asked softly, aiming his gaze just over the girl's head in an attempt to look at...into?...the fog. There was a soft gurgling, purring noise which erupted in the room, reverberating in his chest, and Erik’s noises of pain slowly dies off.

“Come now.” He said gently. “No need for all of this. Just tell me what you want.”

He reached out again, aiming his conscious presence more towards the entity than towards Emily.

_ Char- Charle- Charles. I want...mind. Need...home. _

The voice, despite it’s rather stuttering cadence, had a very intelligent undertone to it.

“You need my mind, to help get you home?”

The entity purred again, slithering closer to him, tendrils of the blackish smoke curling around his fingers, arms, neck.

“Charles...don’t…”

“Hush Erik.” He said, more for Erik’s benefit as he was obviously still suffering repercussions from the near death experience that the entity had just forced upon him.

“How do I help you?”

The heavy shadow pulled even further in a cocoon around him, a sharp pain taking over all other sensations, targeted solely in on his head in a more ethereal sense. Somewhere on the astral plane the shadow had begun to pull at his consciousness, guiding him, helping him to know what to do.

His hold on the dying light that was Emily’s mind began to slip, causing the beginnings of a panic that rattled their odd connection.

_ Worry not.  _ The entity purred softly.  _ She is a part...me, there to be with you...no mal intention.  _

The tendrils caressed him softly, the young girl’s body dissolving into the thickening mist seamlessly, as though it belonged.

_ Ruse, for...am sorry. To be with you...I wished...for help I needed. _

He gave a slow nod, as to not make any sudden or off putting movements. If he didn’t know any better, he would say that in some way the entity was smiling at him, holding him closely as though in a hug-like embrace.

And all of the sudden there is a bright flash of light and both the entity and Emily are gone, and the hold on Erik is dissolved. But it is okay. It is okay because the entity was and had always been Emily, forming such a bond with him as to let him know that there was no harm meant. A creeping suspicion, a memory of the word  _ mine _ , hinted at a deeper connection to him than was let on. All of that was gone now.

“Erik.” It was weak and tired. It took a lot of energy to get an entity back to it’s home, traveling through his mind to a different plane in space and time.

There was no response and he was about to sit up, concern teasing at his mind until-

Erik nearly pounced on him -as far a he was concerned, it was Erik after all, and such a show might have well been a pounce-, strong arms latching around his waist and chest and holding tight. The man’s hot breath puffing into his hair, somehow easing the pain in his head with each smooth breeze.

“Erik?” He inquired, voice muffled by the wide expanse of the metallokinetic’s chest.

“No. Just…”

“Erik, I’m alright.”

“But you weren’t, you might not have been. And I...I couldn’t do anything.”

There was a pause, the sound of their breathing going from syncopated to right in time with one another. Like hearts matching beats they became easily intertwined.

Charles pushed against the muscled encasing him, his own lithe musculature more than enough to show that he meant that he wanted a bit more space, thank you. Just too look up, just to see the others eyes. 

He looked up and found himself swallowing thickly. Those eyes, reflecting a thunderstorm, or a cloudy day, were so full of emotion that he often did not see, emotion that the other always tried not to show.

“Oh Erik...You were here, and that is more than I could have asked for.”

“Have I been so cruel?”

Charles searched for a moment for the right thing to say, mouth opening and closing a few times.

“I would not say...cruel exactly…”

And there was some hurt in those eyes, but it seemed to be...for Charles. Something tightened in his chest.

“You know,” He tried, in order to switch the diminishing direction of the conversation. “The dream I was having was a lot like this, except Emily was real.”

“I was in your dream.”

He nodded with a short humming noise, then leaned forward to press his forehead into Erik’s collar. 

“And I was like this.”

The man beside him froze slightly, as though just taking in the position that they were in. Laying side by side, and holding each other close. 

“And you said you couldn't stay.”

A sharp intake of breath beneath his head.

“And I said I know.”

“Charles-”

“It’s okay Erik, I know. But you are always, always welcome.”

“Charles-”

“Always, you know.”

The arms around him tightened, and a hand snaked up to grasp at his hair, pulling his head back slightly.

“Ow! Eri-”

But Erik’s lips met his before his exclamation could finish. A sweet, but meaningful kiss that spread a warm feeling in his chest and made him forget what he had wanted to say next.

Erik pulled back slightly, locking eyes as his hot breath ran across Charles lips and cheek.

“I think it’s time that I came home for a while.”


End file.
